Every now and then, we will meet someone through the shop who just gets us; someone who seems to understand what Knack is about; someone who knows how to live with what they love. Dee Sullivan is just such a person. Our latest Knack story comes from her family of seven (!!!) and their beautiful, nearly hundred-year-old home in North Carolina that they have been renovating one room at a time:

We eat, homeschool, work on art and other projects, do budgets, pray together, play games, entertain guests and have long family discussions in this room. We thought it would be a great room to overhaul first.

Dee and her husband, Don, decided to turn their formerly dark, moody dining room to the lighter side, with the aid of some inspiration.

I had been blogging to keep all of my Canadian family and friends updated on our lives and to show off the paintings, collages and ceramics I was selling on Etsy. In doing so, I ended up meeting some wonderful people. Two of my very favorite artists/bloggers were and are Annie Koelle and Barb Blair. They are two very talented ladies!! So when I first saw the furniture pieces they worked on together I was smitten, especially with one certain piece, a gorgeous hutch named Kalymenia whose buttery cream paint perfectly applied by Barb along with the soft ocean and mountain scene reminded me of Vancouver, BC. (The place I moved from 8 years ago to come to the South.) …. My love knew I wanted this piece ever so much, so after a visit or two to Knack, he surprised me with buying Kalymenia as a gift. I was ecstatic!!

Dee and Don also brought a locally made cedar table home from Knack, which Don has stained a driftwood/aged cedar grey, adding even more warmth to their fresh white dining room.

The pieces from Barb’s studio now both carry the feeling of Vancouver and make me feel cheery and at home here in the South. Even better to me is knowing that the creative spirits of local artists and artisans I admire massively are poured into these pieces. We now have the cheeriest dining room ever and even though we are not quite finished (Who is really ever finished with their home?), these pieces give our most lived in room a nod to our love of the Northwest, a tribute to the local artists and artisans we admire and love, and they make a unique and creative space to gather, work and eat in.

Dee and Don and their big, happy family embody the very heart of home that we champion here at Knack. We are so elated that two Knack pieces have found a forever home with the Sullivans.

Anymore, I only make custom cake plates exclusively for Pink Olive stores located in East Village and Brooklyn. This latest batch is my favorite batch yet….steamboats, a cabin in the woods, 4th of July stars, retro star bursts, and grains of wheat. I have one more batch to make and add to these, and then they will be on their way to NYC! It has been fun to work on this plate collection this week, and I had two commission pieces come in this week that are going to be beauties! Can’t wait to reveal the furniture makeovers!

I have been really into cutting up t shirts lately, and have made several painting “cardigans” out of long sleeved t shirts, and cut up some short sleeved t shirts….just for funsies. 🙂

Sooooo, when I was directed to this super easy tutorial while visiting my friend Brooke’s blog….I thought I would give it a try….because these t shirt scarves are that fantastic! Mine turned out a little “scrappier” since my t shirt of choice was not a stretch cotton t shirt, and I decided to use scraps to tie off random places….. but I love the scrappy, messy, free, organic result as well! ……now off to buy some more t shirts.

Whatcha think of me now?! Try it ….you’ll love it, and it takes all of five seconds!

Hello Knack’s friends! I am Fiona of Fee-AMore. I am happy to be guesting over here while Barb is out of town….

Perhaps you might or might not have heard of Katie Thompson of REcreate. I remembered i came across Katie Thompson quite sometime back and was absolutely amazed by her recreation of furniture, lighting and many other household accessories. Katie loves discovering the extra ordinary from the ordinary.

From old suitcases redesigned to become chairs, old broken kitchen scales recreated as clocks, dinnerware transformed to cake stands, milk bottles and china tea sets turned into lamps, are just some of her many amazing, lovely recreations. From old to new, useless to functional, Katie certainly gave them each a life with a function.

I absolutely enjoy Katie’s style and her cutting edge interior design. I hope you do too! And thanks for having me over, Barb!